Join TAB Fort Worth today!
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| TAB Fort Worth Anniversaries & New Members |
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September/October Anniv.
401 Board
Justin Hewlett |
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| Hear How We Help Our Members |
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| Event Details |
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Attend Business Bites Lunch 'N Learn
10/7/09
Profitability Strategies for Tough Times
Presented by Calin Costian, Founder of Pricing Altitude LLC
In times of economic downturn, there are four main challenges to profitable growth:
- Lower demand
- Higher costs from suppliers
- Competitive attacks
- Price pressures from customers
Research by McKinsey, the nation's top consulting firm, shows that the most powerful lever for increasing profitability is pricing.
While this presentation will focus on pricing strategies and tactics, it will also delve into go-to-market and selling strategies.
Participants will learn several important principles and how to apply them in practice. Attendees will gain an understanding of the internal and external factors that need to be taken into account. Attendees will see the concepts explained in action through real-life examples.
Attendees will also be encouraged to ask questions on how to resolve related problems they are facing in their own industries. Printed copies of the presentation will be distributed at the beginning of the session.
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Watch for Upcoming Events
9/2009 - LinkedIn classes at Fort Worth Business Assistance Center
9/24/09 - TAB DFW Member Reception at Las Colinas Country Club
9/25/09 - Business Online Networking Workshop at TCU
10/23/09 - Optimizing the Sale of a Business Workshop at TCU
11/20/09 - Email Marketing Workshop presented by Julie Niehoff, Development Director, Constant Contact
1/29/10 - Achieving Balance Creates Business Success Workshop at TCU
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| Schedule a TAB Speaker for your Organization |
| The Alternative Board (TAB) of Fort Worth possesses a Speakers Bureau comprised of individuals from various companies and industries. The range of topics is varied (finance, the environment, new technologies - such as LinkedIn business network, ethics, energy efficiency, and small business management, to name a few).
Click here for a list of topics.
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| Quick Tips |
The Power of Making Calls
Last weekend I had to make 100 calls to my college classmates for our upcoming college reunion. It took about five hours but I realized this is something we need to be doing with our current and past customers, not just prospects. I've brought this back to the sales team and now we are all collaborating and making calls.
Robert White
Whitestar Corp.
Lakewood, CO
What Motivates Your Employees?
Don't assume you know what motivates your employees. Ask them for a list of their top 10 motivators in and out of work. Use these as a form of reward and motivation as much as you're able.
TAB Board 406
Long Island, NY
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| Connect with LinkedIn Business Network |
| Register for LinkedIn classes
September LinkedIn classes at Fort Worth Business Assistance Center
Read LinkedIn Testimonials
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| TAB in The News |
For a full listing of press hits, please visit our In the News page. |
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| Now Available: Click on the above book cover to order your copy of The Wall Street Journal business book best-seller the 9 Elements of Family Business Success by Allen E. Fishman, Founder and Chairman of The Alternative Board®. |
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TCU Neeley Speaker Series Forum  Business Online Networking: Putting Social Media to Work |
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Friday, September 25
AM Session - 7:30 AM to 11:30 AM; Five executives from some of the leading Online Social and Business Networking organizations will address business online networking for businesses and organizations, including some of the newest applications and success stories. They will then form a panel and take questions from the audience. D. J. Kelly Alumni and Visitors Center at TCU.
PM Session - 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM, these same executives from the morning session will attend a TAB (The Alternative Board) Fort Worth sponsored "live, en-vivo" networking event at Fort Worth's Woodhaven Country Club.
SPEAKERS from LinkedIn, cubeless, HubSpot, Handango and Avaya
$35 - AM session; $20 - PM session
$50 - both AM and PM session
Free to Neeley MBA students and TAB Fort Worth members
SPONSORS: the Neeley School of Business at TCU MBA Program, Fort Worth Business Press, The Alternative Board (TAB) of Fort Worth, introNetworks |
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Member Highlight
Partnering with TAB to Get Out of Comfort Zone Jeremy Sweek, Owner, Sweek Consulting (TAB 401 Board) |
 The Alternative Board has been a fantastic partner for Sweek Consulting. Jeremy joined TAB in January 2008 looking for accountability but has found so much more. His board members are an excellent source of support, encouragement and comradery. Jeremy's board helps him think through ideas and strategies, while challenging some of his own notions.
Specifically, the board has pushed Jeremy out of his comfort zone in the area of marketing and business development and their advice pays off every time. The open exchange of ideas and insights in the board environment is extremely helpful, and Jeremy finds it equally rewarding to give and receive advice with his fellow board members. Jeremy is grateful for Ed's tireless efforts as a facilitator, coach and constant promoter of Sweek Consulting.
Seeking a more balanced life, Jeremy left the corporate world two years ago to start Sweek Consulting, LLC. Sweek Consulting provides CFO services to small and mid-sized companies on an hourly basis. Jeremy has helped clients analyze potential acquisitions and perform due diligence, served as interim CFO (interfacing with and reporting to investors and bankers as well as overseeing the accounting function), created business plans, provided project management and systems implementation expertise, and worked through all facets of financial modeling, analysis, and management reporting.
Jeremy leverages over 14 years of experience in public accounting, corporate finance and consulting to deliver practical advice and responsive service to his clients. Jeremy has indeed found a better work-life balance through Sweek Consulting and loves the challenges and rewards of being an entrepreneur.
"When our company bought a real estate development firm, we needed to calculate the fair value and resulting purchase accounting entries within 15 days. The fair values for every underlying asset had to be determined, justified to the auditors and reflected in several levels of complicated consolidations. Jeremy researched the proper accounting treatment, completed the calculations, presented them to the auditors and got the financial statements restated on time and without further revision. It was a great relief to be able to get such a conscientious and knowledgeable professional to lead this project so we could focus on our business. Since then, Jeremy has performed many diverse projects for us always with outstanding results."
Brenna Wadleigh, President, N3 Real Estate |
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| LinkedIn Classes |
| This series of two-hour, instructor-led, hands-on workshops will be taught with web access so you can work on your LinkedIn® profile in class. When you finish this series you will be able to strategically use LinkedIn® Business Online Networking to find customers and be found by them. Your on-line business presence will be greatly improved.
Series includes: Fundamentals, Profiles PLUS, Sales & Marketing and Advanced Sales & Marketing. Each class is $69; all four classes for $199. Classes begin on September 11.
Register here. |
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| New Member Highlight
Assistance with Ideas and Best Practices from TAB Boards
Bedford Burgher, CEO, NextCorp Capital Management (TAB 501 Board) |
 Bedford's expectations are that his board, and its members, will be able to assist him with marketing ideas and reality testing, operational and human resources management best practices, and strategic growth planning. Mr. Bedford Burgher is CEO of NextCorp Capital Management. NextCorp Capital Management, or NCM, is a platform of shared financial management systems and services developed for family groups and private businesses. It was formed 3 years ago in 2006 to provide outsourced financial and administrative services to clients utilizing web-based technologies and systems.
Outsourced services include accounting, financial reporting, investment data aggregation and investment performance reporting, document management, bill payment, receivables management, payroll processing, tax compliance, etc. Other services available through NCM include real estate property and lease administration, oil & gas minerals and land management and ranch management.
For the 14 years before starting NCM, Bedford served in the roles of CFO, Director and Trustee for 3 family offices. Before that, he spent 11 years with Ernst & Young's Tax Group. Bedford and his wife, Adelaide, have 3 grown children.
"I became CFO of a start-up real estate development company (Punta Brava, a Tiger Woods Golf and Ocean Club Community) in late 2007 and immediately turned to NextCorp Capital Management to establish my accounting, reporting and treasury functions. I worked hand-in-hand with Bedford and his staff to design a robust functionality to these systems that were well beyond the resources and capabilities of a typical start up operation including customized drill down reporting, electronic access to source documents and accounting and treasury control features. I am pleased to recommend NextCorp's services."
Jeff Fitzgerald, The Flagship Group, Austin, Texas |
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Q/A The Workplace Doctor™ Avoid Costly Hiring Mistakes |
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Hiring the right person for the job can be challenging, even with an overflowing applicant pool. For example, when an employee resigned after one week, unable to fulfill expectations, he admitted that he had embellished his resume, given the competitive job market.
Four steps to avoid costly hiring mistakes:
1. Prior to interviewing applicants, update a list of job requirements, essential duties and responsibilities so both you and applicants understand expectations.
2. Don't panic. Hire a temporary, outsource or ask co-workers to assist during the transition.
3. Before extending an offer, complete a background, references and education verification.
4. Ask open-ended behavior questions. Even an applicant's response to "describe your worst day on your last job" can reveal much about their performance, attitude and conduct.
The longer a position is open and the more desperate you are to fill it, the more tempting it is to make the position fit an applicant. As time consuming as filling a position can be, it's better than the costly business and potential legal impact of the wrong fit.
Copyright 2009, Dr. Connie Sitterly, "The Workplace Doctor™" President, Sittcom, Inc., Management Training Specialists. Connie is an international speaker, trainer, executive coach, author, management consultant. You may reach her by phone 817.737.2893 , Connie's email
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| Annual TAB DFW Member Reception
Learn Leadership Skills from one of the Country's Leading Experts |
| September 24, 2009, 6:00-8:30
Valued members of The Alternative Board are invited to spend an evening with fellow TAB DFW members. This event is free to TAB members in appreciation for their business.
 About Our Speaker: Tim Durkin
One of America's leading experts at developing leadership skills at any level of an organization.
With over 500 speeches and seminars over the past five years, Tim Durkin, CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) is a keynote leadership speaker who provides every attendee practical leadership tools to help meet real challenges in real time for real results. Tim's website
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| TAB Fort Worth Members - Free Sales Skills Classes |
At no cost to TAB members (or TAB members' staff), you have a unique opportunity to attend, along with full-time MBA TCU students, career-related professional sales training sessions.
More details and to register. Offered by professional sales consultant and trainer, Shelley Plemons, each of these 7 sessions will be available on one Friday each month. These sessions will be in TCU's Dan Rogers Hall, 2900 Lubbock Avenue, Fort Worth 76129, Room 171 (maximum seating is 10). |
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| Changing One Item on your Website to Glean Information |
Don't be tempted to over-automate or over-simplify information you attempt to solicit on your website. We used to give website visitors a choice when listing "how they heard about us." When we changed this from a list of choices to a free-form text field that the website visitor had to type in, the information submitted was substantially more accurate, meaningful and useful. Many website visitors would just click the first option (which happened to be a publication we had not used in several years).
In our case it was much more meaningful to the sales staff who greatly appreciated the change. You'd be surprised how people want to explain in detail how they heard about your company. It can also be a great conversation-starter for the sales executives.
Jim Halepaska, Jellison Z Option, Inc., Lewisville, TX
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| Motivating Sales Staff |
In order to motivate salespeople to act differently, consider commissioning them based on their behavior. For example, if they close the sale, you might give them a three percent commission and if they close the sale and do the documentation, they might get a five percent commission.
Joe Cole, American Building Contractors, Lindenhurst, NY
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| Low Budget Interviewing Using Video Conferencing |
When we interview someone for an open position who lives far away, one of the things we do is utilize free Skype video-conferencing (www.Skype.com) to conduct the interview. This allows us to see the person face-to-face, to read their body language and to let them see us. It also saves us the cost of having to fly them in to do the interview. Because Skype costs nothing to install or use, the only cost is the purchase of a camera and microphone to be installed on both computers (under $50 each).
Ronen Neutra, Neu-tec Group, Inc., Farmingdale, NY |
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| Taking a Different Approach to Getting the Job Done |
Development of our new website had been dragging on for over a year. Much of the delay was due to our lack of responsiveness when the designers needed something. Finally, we decided to approach it the same way we would a customer project. We listed the necessary action items, responsible parties and scheduled deadlines. When we told the design firm, they were enthusiastic and attacked the project with new vigor. The site was finished in six weeks.
Joseph Newton, Cacheaux Cavazos and Newton, San Antonio, TX |
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Touted as the most valuable and beneficial business advisory organization in the world, The Alternative Board® (TAB) has been featured in leading business news sources from the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, the Washington Post, CNN and many others.
The essential and critical counsel and value The Alternative Board® consistently delivers to small and medium size businesses, and the immediate impact it brings to its client organizations is an essential element for any organization that intends to thrive. | |
ABOUT THE ALTERNATIVE BOARD®
The Alternative Board® is comprised of members who are business owners, CEOs or presidents who run businesses in non-competing fields. During a TAB Board meeting, you receive the benefit of the collective experience of the board members, who offer practical solutions to your problems-not theories.
You can learn more about TAB, which has been helping business owners succeed since 1990, by visiting TheAlternativeBoard.com |
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